🇹🇳 Tunisia at the 2026 World Cup

Tunisia compete in Group F of the FIFA World Cup 2026, playing matches in Monterrey and Kansas City. The Eagles of Carthage are appearing at their sixth World Cup and carrying a streak they want broken: Tunisia have qualified six times, won one match across all six appearances, and never once advanced to the knockout round.

That win came at France 1998. Ghodhbane scored, Tunisia beat Colombia 1-0, and it remains the only World Cup group-stage victory in the nation’s history across 23 matches spread over five decades. In 2006 they went out on goal difference despite not losing to their final opponents. In 2022 they beat France 1-0 in a meaningless dead rubber after both sides had already been eliminated, a result that summed up the particular cruelty of their tournament record: capable of defeating world champions when the result doesn’t matter, unable to accumulate the two wins needed to progress when it does.

Issam Jebali of Nottingham Forest is the current focal point, a striker with the technical range and finishing ability to score against elite competition. His inclusion in the 2022 squad was noted by European scouts who had not previously tracked Tunisian football closely. Around him, Hannibal Mejbri, the Manchester United midfielder currently on loan in the Championship, represents the development pathway that Tunisian football has built through the French academy system. This is a squad with more European pedigree than any previous Tunisian side. Whether that translates to a knockout-round finish is what the last 28 years has failed to deliver.

Group F offers a realistic path. Sweden and Japan are competitive but not insurmountable opposition. Netherlands are the group’s major challenge. Two wins from three matches, taking Sweden and Japan, would make Tunisia the first North African side to advance from their group in three consecutive tournaments. Morocco showed what that ambition looks like at its extreme in 2022. Tunisia have the material to take a smaller version of the same step.

Group F Match Schedule

• June 14: vs Sweden, Estadio BBVA Monterrey. 20:00 CT (02:00 June 15, Tunis)
• June 20: vs Japan, Estadio BBVA Monterrey. 22:00 CT (04:00 June 21, Tunis)
• June 25: vs Netherlands, Arrowhead Stadium Kansas City. 18:00 CT (00:00 June 26, Tunis)

Viewing from Tunisia

The Monterrey double-header is the hardest overnight schedule of any team in Group F. The Sweden opener arrives at 02:00 in Tunis, and the Japan match pushes to 04:00 before dawn. The Kansas City finale lands at midnight, which becomes the most manageable of the three. These are not casual viewing hours. They are the hours of people who have been waiting 28 years to see their national side advance.

Tunisia’s diaspora in France and Italy, both substantial communities, watches at identical Central European Summer Time windows: 03:00 and 05:00 for the Monterrey matches, 01:00 for Kansas City. Late nights in Paris and Rome will be organized nonetheless. The France 1998 generation celebrated that Colombia win in cities across Europe. The 2026 generation has the chance to give those communities something to celebrate that goes further.

Check Tunis time and Tunisia time for live conversions throughout the tournament.